Pear Frangipane

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• pastry dough
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
• 2 tablespoons ice water
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 soft ripe pears (peeled, cut into halves lengthwise and cored)

Recipe

• 1 to prepare pastry, place flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. pulse to blend. add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. add ice water; pulse until a ball barely forms. gather into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
• 2 preheat oven to 375°f.
• 3 roll out dough and place into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. press pastry up the sides and trim the top even with the rim of pan, if needed. bake 20 minutes. let cool.
• 4 to prepare frangipane, place butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth. add almonds and blend. add flour, cornstarch, egg and egg . process until smooth. add vanilla and almond extracts; blend well.
• 5 spread frangipane in pastry. slice each pear half horizontally into ½ inch thick slices, but do not separate. slide each pear half into frangipane, nestling into mixture. press, spreading the pear slices slightly. bake about 40 minutes, until frangipane is puffy and golden.